“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve on the MRC, whose mission of environmental stewardship perfectly aligns with our vision and daily work at the Alliance,” Mayfield said.

The MRC was created in mid-2009 when the General Assembly passed the Mountain Resources Planning Act with bipartisan support. The bill stipulates that the MRC should “encourage quality growth and development while preserving the natural resources, open spaces, and farmland of the mountain region of Western North Carolina.”

Reading Room

So, Scout (Jean Louise) comes back home to Maycomb — where “everyone is either kin or almost kin”— at age 26 and after being “away” and living in New York City for several years. Sixteen years have gone by since we last heard from her in the pages of To Kill a Mockingbird, and the Maycomb she comes home to isn’t the same Maycomb we know from the 1960 novel.

This Must Be the Place

For the better part of the last decade, my life during the summer was music festivals. From Maine to California, Michigan to Arkansas, I was there, in an endless crowd, cheering on the greatest musicians of our time. In those innumerable moments, I felt more alive, at home, and at peace, than anywhere else in the world.